I am becoming discouraged about upcoming MSC Orchestra Med. cruise in December! There appear to be plenty of negatives. We are a family of five (adult children) and have traveled to Europe many times. Took med. cruise on Sovereign of seas. It was a wonderful cruise except that occasionally it was easy to forget you where in Med. and not Car. Any positives or words of encouragement? Do not want a mutiny on my hands!!

Perhaps the reviews you read were by people that didn't know what to expect on MSC. The MSC product has a large percentage of Europeans. Announcements will be in several different languages. You may experience more smoking with the European market. You may also experience some abrupt people. The cuisine may be different due to the European influence also and possibly a different style of entertainment. If you are going on MSC expecting an experience like a Royal Caribbean ship in the Caribbean, then it will be probably not meet your expectations.

Gulliver:
As you appear to be a seasoned European traveller, I would suggest you will have few problems on your December Orchestra cruise, especially if you enjoy Italy.
The majority of the negative reviews of MSC ships are for Caribbean itineraries where the line has to Americanise the experience for the majority, US passengers who have booked on price alone without research of the product.
MSC is a different product in the Med. Expect to be in the minority on board,( only about 50 North Americans on my Oct 2004 MSC Opera cruise out of Genoa). Just enjoy the diversity of languages and habits.
What you will experience: a beautiful,clean modernly designed ship,with good Italian regional cuisine,good service from the friendly staff, and outstanding entertainment in the Cirque De Soleil style in the theatre. Of course,It goes without saying, your ports of call will be interesting.I hope you enjoy as much as we did.

I've booked many many MSC cruises and always give almost the verbatim speach that Cruise Fanatic gave above. With those expectations I've seldom had a negative review come back. Occasionally I do get some complaints about food quality. I just don't know if it's because it's noy typical of North American palate or really an issue. They don't seem to understand an American breakfast. Don't be surprised if you order sausage and eggs and get a hamburger patty or hot dog as a substitute for a sausage patty or link. My client was appauld and I had to turn off my phone headset for a minute so I didn't laugh audibly. They meant no harm but didn't quite understand her descriptions of what she wanted with her eggs.

This is also the only cruiseline I've ever had clients on that ran out of food before the cruise ended. Only happened once but that's once too many. Lately I've had no such complaints and have had very happy clients. Even had one experienced cruiser say they provided the best entertainment he'd ever had on a cruise.

Thank you for the feedback. Could you be more specific on why you did not like Cruise? Such a blanket statement is troublesome. Not that it would matter that much because our cruise is paid for. I am trying to be optimistic rather than feeling stuck I will be sure and post when we get back.

actually breakfast was something I particularly enjoyed onboard "MSC Lirica" last year. In the dining room you could order a "so-and-so plate", which included eggs (your choice), bacon, sausage, fresh fruit and toast. So, you actually didn't have to order everything separately if you didn't want to.

I don't know if this is typical for MSC, however, as that has been my only cruise with them.